Method for making wheel covers



Dec. 4, 1962 e. A. LYON METHOD FOR MAKING WHEEL COVERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Feb. 25, 1960 INVENT-OR George fl/berf Lyon ATT RNEY Dec. 4, 1962G. A. LYON 3,

METHOD FOR MAKING WHEEL COVERS Filed Feb. 25. 1960 2 Sheets$heet 2INVENTOR G'eory e fl/berf Lyon A ORNEY United rates Patent @ffice 3 666630 METHOD FOR Manse WHEEL covnns George Albert Lyon, Detroit, Mich,assignor to Lyon Incorporated, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of DelawareFiled Feb. 25, 196i), Ser. No. 11,078 7 Claims. (Cl. 113116) The presentinvention relates to improvements in a method for making wheel coversand more particularly concerns the provision in wheel covers of new andimproved louvers useful in promoting air circulation through the coversin the turning of the covers during running of the associated wheels.

Vehicle wheel covers are desirably made from thin sheet metal stock diestamped and drawn into shape to provide the desired contours for thecovers. The thin sheet metal of the covers, especially after drawing ispossessed of substantial spring-back, so that when narrow portions ofthe cover member are further drawn into louver shape, and moreespecially a generally sinuous louver shape, there is an undue tendencyto spring-back. If the louver sections are overdrawn so as to compensatefor spring-back, there is undue likelihood of splitting of the material.

It is accordingly an important object of the present invention toproduce louver formations on a thin drawn sheet metal wheel cover in amanner which practically eliminates spring-back.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a drawn sheet metalmember tilted louver sections which are reinforced and set againstspring-back.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved method ofproviding thin sheet metal wheel covers with louvers.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will bereadily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferredembodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,in which:

FIGURE 1 is an outer side elevational view of a wheel structureembodying features of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary generally radial sectional detailview taken on the line 11-11 of FIGURE FIGURE 3 is a fragmentaryenlarged plan view of a cover blank before louver sections are turned upin a portion of the blank;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary plan view similar to FIG- URE 3 but showingthe louvers after they have been shaped;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional detail view throughapparatus for forming louvers in wheel covers and taken substantially onthe line V-V of FIG- URE 6;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary sectional detail view taken substantially online VI-VI of FIGURE 5; and

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary sectional detail view similar to FIGURE 6 butshowing the die members separated as they appear just before bendinglyshaping the louver sections of the cover disposed between the diemembers.

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2, a wheel cover member 10 constructed ofthin sheet metal such as stainless steel, brass, or the like, is diepress stamped and drawn to provide the same with a central crown portion11 having annularly thereabout an intermediate portion 12 subdivided bya uniform annular series of generally radially extending but sinuousslots 13 into a series of narrow spoke-like sections 14 which are turnedup to provide air circulation louvers. At its radially outer side, the

intermediate louvered annular cover portion 12 extends into an annulardished cover portion 15 having annularly thereabout an angular outermarginal cover portion 17 formed with an underturned flange 18 havingcover retaining axially inward extension fingers 1? with turned shortoblique radially and axially outward retaining terminals 24 In service,the cover 10 is adapted to be applied in ornamental covering, aircirculation relation over the outer side of a vehicle wheel including adisk spider wheel body 21 having a peripheral attachment flange 22attached to the base flange of a multi-flange, drop center tire rim 23.Suitable insets at circumferentially spaced areas of the attachmentflange 22 provide air circulation openings 24 through the wheel. Anintermediate generally axially outwardly extending flange 25 of the tirerim is engaged by the terminals 20 of the cover retaining fingers toretain the cover in press-on, pry-off attachment to the wheel. In theassembly with the wheel, a valve stem aperture 27 in the dished portion15 of the cover is registered with a valve stem 28 carried by the tirerim. The construction and relationship are such that the air circulationlouvers 14 of the cover are generally opposite the wheel openings 14 foreffective air circulation through the wheel and the wheel cover.

Since one edge of each of the spoke louver sections 14 defining the airinlet louver slot opening 13 is tilted generally axially outwardly toface in one circumferential direction, it is desirable to finish suchedge against sharp or raw cutting edges. Moreover, it is desirable toreinforce such tilted up edge in each instance since the tilted upmargin of the louver spoke is especially vulnerable to damage uponcontact with extraneous objects. Accordingly, at least the tilted upedges of the louver spokes 14 are provided with axially inwardly turnedfinishing and reinforcing flanges 29 respectively. Additionalreinforcement for each of the louver spoke strips 14 is afforded byhaving the opposite, that is inwardly tilted edges also provided withaxially inwardly turned reinforcing flanges 29. These reinforcingflanges 29 are preferably as short as practicable so as to avoidinterference with air scooping and inward deflection, or air sucking,that is inspiration of air, from the inner side of the cover to beexhausted from the openings 13, depending upon the direction of rotationof the cover. During scooping in of air by the spoke louvers 14, theinturned flanges 29 on the inwardly tilted edges of the louver spokesassist in deflecting the inscooped air generally axially inwardly towardthe wheel body 21 and the wheel openings 24.

As best visualized in FIG. 2, the louver spokes 14 extend in a generallyradially and axially tilted disposition, with substantial axially outerend portions. of the louver spokes located on the wheel axialy outwardlybeyond the tip of the terminal flange so as to be well situated withrespect to the slipstream in the running operation of the associatedwheel and rotation of the cover therewith whereby air is scooped in anddirected toward the wheel openings 24. It may also be observed that byhaving the axially outer end portions of the louver spokes 14 ofgenerally radially arched form improved air scooping or air inspiringaction is attained depending on the direction of rotation of the cover.This curved form of the louver spokes is also advantageous in affordingsubstantial rigidity therein which is improved by the conformably archeddisposition of the reinforcing edge flanges 29.

A buffer rib 30 is provided at juncture of the crown portion 11 with theintermediate cover portion 12 and projecting annularly axially outwardlybeyond the maximum axially outward projection of the tilted louverportions of the spoke louvers 14. Although the spoke louvers 14 aresubstantially rigid, they are possessed of some resilient deflectabilityso that should the buffer rib 30 press against a curb or the like therewill be some axially inward yielding afforded by the spoke ribs 14whereby to avoid damaging indentation or distortion of the cover.

In a desirable method of forming the louver spokes 14, the body of thecover member 10 is shaped into its final form with the intermediateannular portion 12 formed with a uniform annular and cross-sectionalcontour wherein the portion thereof to be formed into the tilted louverspokes may be of generally sinuous, ogee radial section. The slots 13are then punched in the ogee contour section of the cover portion 12 andin a desirable form such slots are of sinuous shape substantially asshown in FIG. 3. Material surrounding and defining the slots 13 is bentaxially inwardly relative to the cover body to provide the longitudinaledge finishing and reinforcing flanges 29. Thereafter, the louver spokes14 are bent into the desired tilted louver form depicted in FIGURES 2and 4.

Tilting, bending of the louver spokes 14 can be effectively accomplishedin the die structure shown in FIG- URES 6. This includes a base member31 which may be supported in any preferred manner upon the anvil of adie press and has an upstanding annular supporting rib portion 32 uponwhich the annular rib 30 of the cover member is engaged in invertedrelation, that is with the axially outer side of the cover rib 30engaging upon the supporting die member rib 32. Supported by the basemember 31 about the upstanding supporting rib 32 thereof is an annulardie ring member 33 having an upper surface cross-sectionally contouredto receive thereon the annular cover portion 12, the dished coverportion and the cover marginal portion 17, as the cover lies in invertedrelation upon the lower die assembly comprising the members 31 and 33.

Coactively related to the lower die assembly is an upper die assemblywhich is adapted to be vertically reciprocably carried by the ram of apress and includes an inner holddown and guide member 34 having anannular depending holddown nose rib 35 constructed and arranged toengage within the channel of the cover rib to clamp the same against thelower die member rib 32. About the die member 34 is a relativelyreciprocably guided ring die member 37 having the cover opposing lowerface thereof shaped complementary to the opposing upwardly facingportion of the lower die member 33. Disposed about the ring 37 is ahold-down die portion 38 engageable against the inner side of the dishedportion 15. The construction and arrangement is such that after theformed cover blank has been placed as shown in FIG. 5 upon the lower dieassembly 31, 33, the upper die assembly is moved from a raised positioninto cover engaging position wherein the cover is clamped by thehold-down die portions and 38 while the relatively reciprocable diemember 37 is in a raised position as indicated in dot dash outline inFIG. 5. Then, by driving of the die member 37 toward the underlying diemember 33 bending, tilting of the louver spoke sections 14 is effected.

For accomplishing the louver spoke bending and tilting, the lower diemember 33 is provided with upwardly opening generally radially extendinggroove cavities 39 having the desired tilted cross-sectional shape ofthe tilted spoke louvers, as best seen in FIGS. 6 and 7. Between thecavities 39 are upstanding ribs 40 which are dimensioned to fit withinthe slots 13 of the cover blank, thereby positively aligning theoriginally transversely, that is circumferentially, coplanar spokesections 14 with the forming cavities 39, as shown in FIG. 7. Coactivewith the forming cavities 39 are complementary male punch formations 41on the lower forming face of the upper die member 37. While the diecavities 39 are defined by side walls which are opposed by the edgeflanges 29 of the spoke sections 14, the punch ribs 41 are of a width tofit within the flanges 29 and for this purpose are narrower than thecavities 39 equal to about twice the thickness of the mate- 4 rial ofthe cover in the flanges 29 so as to afford clearance to accommodate theflanges 29 but to be in close enough relationship thereto so as tomaintain the flanges 29 in substantially their original axial planesduring the shaping operation on the spoke sections 14.

In operation, the cover blank 10 is placed upon the lower die assembly31, 33 while the die assemblies are separated. At this time, the louversections 14 are in a common circumferential plane as in FIGURE 3 and asshown in FIGURE 7. Concentricity of the cover blank with the lower dieassembly is attained by engagement of the upstanding upper contour ofthe die ring 33 within the dished portion 15 of the cover. Properregistration 'of the spoke sections 14 is assured by engagement of theupwardly projecting registration and sizing ribs 40 between the louvershaping cavities 39 within the cover slots 13 as shown in FIG. 7. Inthis relationship, one edge of each of the spoke sections 14 is engagedwithin the reentrant corner at the high side of the shaping cavity 39and the contiguous registration and sizing rib 40 in each instance.

As the upper die assembly closes down against the lower die assembly,the annular portions of the cover member radially inwardly and radiallyoutwardly adjacent to the ends of the spoke sections 14, namely, thecover rib portion 30 and the adjacent solid part of the intermediateportion 12 of the cover at the radially inner side and the solid annularpart of the dished portion 15 at the radially outer side, are gripped infirm clamped relation between the opposing upper and lower die parts andthus held against distortion. Thereafter, the shaping punch die member37 is driven into louver shaping stroke relation to the lower die member33, whereby the shaping punches 41 tiltably bend the spoke sections 14from their original plane into the transversely tilted louver planesthereof as shown in FIGURE 6. During this tilting bending of the louverspoke sections 14, the side flanges 29 of the louver spoke sections aremaintained in their original generally axial planes by the respectiveopposed side walls of the cavities and the punches. Since this involvessome bending of the junctures of the flanges 29 with the respectivelouver spoke sections 14 some cold work hardening in addition'to thecold work hardening originally incurred in the initial formation of theflanges 29 further stiffens the flanges or at least the juncturesthereof with the louver spokes.

As a result of maintaining the axial orientation of the finishing andreinforcing side flanges 29 of the spoke louvers 14 during the louvershaping operation wtih freedom from warpage or buckling of the flanges,springback is practically, if not absolutely, eliminated when thebending and sizing of the louver spokes has been completed by action ofthe dies and the dies opened for removal of the formed cover. This ishighly desirable especially with the initially already substantiallycold worked and hardened and thus fairly resiliently resistant characterof the material of the spoke sections 14 before they are subjected tothe louver bending, shaping action of the louver forming die members 33and 37. By the present method, the louvers can be shaped directly to theultimate position of each desired, whereas in the absence of theanti-spring-back relationship aiforded by the side flanges 29 it wouldbe necessary to overbend the spoke sections 14 in order to compensatefor springback and thus place the material of the spoke sections underadditional and sometimes damaging strain. Furthermore, by thesize-retaining action of the side flanges 29 substantially more uniformresults are attained in the shape of the entire series of resultinglouvers as compared with over-shaping to compensate for spring-back andthe resultant variables caused by the inevitable range of differences instretch, stress, hardness, gauge, and the like, present in any piece ofdie-formed or otherwise shaped rolled sheet metal stock. 7

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effectedwithout departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the presentinvention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a method of making a sheet metal article such as a wheel cover,forming a series of spaced slots in a predetermined area of a sheetmetal body member, forming material at the edges defining the slots intonarrow flanges which project from one side of such area and in apredetermined angular relation to such side of the area, and bending thesections of said area between the slots into tilted louver relationshipto one another and to the remainder of the body while maintaining saidflanges in substantially said predetermined angular relation andsubstantially against warpage distortion to maintain the bendably tiltedlouvers against spring-back.

2. In a method of shaping an annular area of a sheet metal article suchas a wheel cover with spoke-like tilted louvers, subdividing saidannular area into a plurality of spoke sections of limited width withseparating slots between the sections and annular continuous portions ofthe article connecting the spoke sections, forming side flanges on theedges of the spoke sections defining said slots and with the ends of theflanges connected to said continuous annular portions, holding saidcontinuous annular portions against distortion and bending said sectionsinto tilted louver relation to one another and to said continuousannular portions, and while thus bending the louver sections maintainingsaid flanges in predetermined angular relation to said continuousannular portions and against warpage distortion to maintain the bentlouver spoke sections against spring-back from said tilted relation.

3. In a method of shaping a circular sheet metal member, includingforming a circular body with an annular area thereof of predeterminedwidth and in a predetermined circumferential plane, forming a series ofslots across said area and thereby subdividing the area into separatesections connected at their ends to respective portions of the memberbeyond the ends of the slots, forming on at least one side of each ofthe sections a flange angular thereto and projecting from one side ofthe member and connected at opposite ends to said respective portions ofthe member to which the sections are connected, and bending saidsections into tilted relation to said respective portions and with theflange sides tilted up relative to the opposite side from said one sideto define louver-mouths with said flanges reinforcing and finishing thetilted up edges of the sections.

4. In a method of shaping a circular sheet metal member, includingforming a circular body with an annular area thereof of predeterminedwidth and in a predetermined circumferential plane, forming a series ofsinuous slots across said area and thereby subdividing the area intoseparate sections connected at their ends to respective portions of themember beyond the ends of the slots, forming on at least one side ofeach of the sections a flange angular thereto and projecting from oneside of the member and connected at opposite ends to said respectiveportions of the member to which the sections are connected, and bendingsaid sections into tilted relation to said respective portions and withthe flange sides tilted up relative to the opposite side from said oneside to define louver-mouths with said flanges reinforcing and finishingthe tilted up edges of the sections.

5. In a method of shaping a thin sheet metal article, forming an annulararea of the article into sinuous crosssectional shape, forming a seriesof uniformly spaced slots across said annular area to subdivide the areainto separate sections with the ends of said sections connected toannular portions of the members beyond the ends of the slots, forming onthe same side of each of said sections a flange projecting in apredetermined angular relation thereto toward one side of said annulararea and with the ends of the flanges connected to said portions beyondthe ends of the slots, and while maintaining said annular portionsagainst distortion, bending said sections substantially identically intotilted louver relation with the edges having said flanges tilted towardthe opposite side of said area from said flanges, and. while bendingsaid sections maintaining said flanges in said predetermined angularrelation and against warpage distortion.

6. In a method of shaping a thin sheet metal article, forming an annulararea of the article into sinuous crosssectional shape, forming a seriesof uniformly spaced sinuous slots across said annular area to subdividethe area into separate sections with the ends of said sections connectedto annular portions of the member beyond the ends of the slots, formingon the same side of each of said sections a flange projecting in apredetermined angular relation thereto toward one side of said annulararea and with the ends of the flanges connected to said portions beyondthe ends of the slots, and while maintaining said annular portionsagainst distortion, bending said sections substantially identically intotilted louver relation with the edges having said flanges tilted towardthe opposite side of said area from said flanges, and. while bendingsaid sections maintaining said flanges in said predetermined angularrelation and against warpage distortion.

7. In a method of making thin sheet metal articles, shaping a sheetmetal body with an annular area having annular portions of the body ateach side of the area, forming slots across said area to therebyseparate the area into sections of predetermined width connected attheir ends to said portions of the body, forming along at least onecommon side of each of the sections a flange angularly disposed inpredetermined relation to the circumferential plane of the area, andwhile maintaining the flange against buckling distortion and in saidangular relation tiltably bending the associated section in eachinstance into louver form with bending of the juncture of the flangewith the section to maintain said angular relation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,780,433 McGregor Nov. 4, 1930 2,282,588 Lyon May 12, 1942 2,597,010Lyon May 20, 1952 2,755,140 Lyon July 17, 1956 2,761,408 Lyon Sept. 4,1956 2,776,170 Lyon Jan. 1, 1957 2,828,838 Lyon Apr. 1, 1958

